Life or Death
by Princess Peyton
Summary: End of 13x21, but with a twist. Would Sam let Lucifer posess him again? Or would he rather die?


**So basically, this is a slight AU of 13x21. It's supposed to be a one-shot, but maybe I'll do an epilougue or something later. I'm not sure why I wrote this, tbh. Maybe I hate Sam even more than the writers.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **Oh yeah, and please review (-:**

* * *

Somehow, Sam was still alive.

He wasn't surprised, just confused. After all, the universe had a messed up way of bringing him back from the dead, time after time. The only question was: _how the hell did it happen this time?_

He looked around, at the part of the cave that the vampires dragged him into after ripping his throat out. He unconsciously brought his hand to his neck, checking for damage. There was nothing.

 _But how?_

"Boo!" The devil's face suddenly appeared in front of him, laughing at his sharp intake of breath. "Hiya, Sammy," he greeted cheerfully.

" _No,"_ Sam breathed in disbelief.

" _Yeah_ ," Lucifer sighed happily, appreciating his own handiwork.

After all, the world had a messed up way of bringing him back, time after time.

"Now, you can do the whole, ' _pinch yourself, rub your eyes_ ' thing," Lucifer said, mindlessly playing with a stray cobweb while Sam shuddered. " _Or_ , you can put on your big boy pants and just, y'know… Cut right to the realization that: Yup, It's me."

"Y-you… You brought me back?" he stammered.

"I did. You're welcome." Lucifer took a step forward, savoring the way Sam's heart leaped when he did so.

"... _Why?_ " He asked. It was a loaded question. One that sounded more like, ' _Why this? Why me? Why couldn't I just stay dead?_ '

"Oh, we'll get to that. But first, How've you been, Sammy?" Lucifer asked, taking in the way Sam's eyes darted around the cave anxiously. _Boy_ , had Lucifer missed tormenting him.

"The rift… Rowena…"

"Oh, she's alive," Lucifer reassured. "I mean, I _was_ going to kill her, but she blasted me here before I had the chance, so..." he trailed off. "...It was great self defence, but I was coming here anyway." He shrugged.

"But... We- we drained you-"

"-So how did I have the juice to pull off my little Lazarath trick? Ah, that's a long story. But basically, I was tracking you here when I ran into a handful of Michael's angels and I… Ate them." He giggled at Sam's disgusted face. "I guess it's not really that long of a story after all, is it?"

"What do you want?" Sam asked, desperate to cut to the point. He just wanted the nightmare to be _over_.

Lucifer grinned at his misery. "What do I want?" he repeated Sam's question, as if deep in thought. "I want what everyone wants... I want... A personal apology from Pop, I want year-long free rerun episodes of Drag Race-"

"-Yeah. Right. Got it. Okay..." He swallowed and grabbed his belongings. "We're done here," He said firmly as he turned towards the exit.

Lucifer flashed another condescending smile as Sam found himself faced by the same mob of rabid vampires that had ended his life only moments earlier. "Yeah, they're sort of all over there, and I'm holding them back." He held his hand up, ready to let them swarm in. "They're just waiting for a snap of the fingers. But I didn't want them coming in here and eating you again. At least, not until we finished our convo."

Then came the hopeless rage. The same type of rage that Lucifer just _loved_ to see on him. This was almost _too_ easy, he thought to himself. " _What_ do you _want?!_ " Sam screamed this time, his voice echoing off the cave walls.

Lucifer was quiet as he took in Sam's demeanor, as he took in how _close_ he was to completely losing his cool. It surprised him, actually; he hadn't seen him like _this_ since their time together in the cage. Clearly, something in Sam had snapped. And Lucifer _reveled_ in it.

After a moment of silence, he finally answered, softly. "I want what you already have. A relationship with my son."

Sam shook his head in disgust. _No way._ There was absolutely _no way_ that he would let him get to Jack.

"Okay, there was a time when I would just, you know, _grab_ him," Lucifer explained, as if reading his mind. "But... I've grown."

"Yeah, sure you have." Sam retorted.

"You know, Sammy, I've come to realize that I can't always just use brute force to win," he told him earnestly. "Actually, our little friend Crowley taught me that lesson. I've gotta give him props. Did he ever tell you how he managed to stuff me back inside this vessel? "

Sam shut his eyes and took a deep breath. " _Please_ , just get to the point," he begged.

"The point?" Lucifer asked innocently. "The point is, I want my son, and you're going to help me." It wasn't a question.

Although Sam was afraid, he had to know. "How?" He asked reluctantly.

Lucifer's eyes gleamed at his discomfort. "Well, I don't feel like he'll give me a chance unless I come bearing gifts. Yup," Lucifer playfully tapped Sam's chest, his icy fingers causing him to flinch. "That's you."

Sam stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact with his old tormentor.

"Look, Sam." Lucifer said, bringing Sam's head up to face him. "I'm not asking you to like it, or to like me. All I'm asking is that you acknowledge the truth: I was the one that brought you back to life, and I was the one that lifted you from the darkness and into the light."

Again, Sam stayed silent. He turned his head away and closed his eyes, wishing the entire situation away.

But of course, Lucifer wasn't going to let him go. "Apocalypse world? _Michael's armies?"_ He questioned, more urgently now. "You really think that you and your family can handle that stuff alone? You _need_ me."

"And what if I say no?" Sam asked nervously, still refusing to look Lucifer in the eye.

Lucifer cleared his throat dramatically. "Alright, let me just make this really, really, _really_ easy, easy enough for even _you_ to understand, Sammy. I'm getting to Jack, one way or another. The only question is: You coming with? Or _that_?" he asked, flickering his flashlight towards the rabid nest of vampires.

Once again, Lucifer raised his hand, ready to snap his fingers and allow them in. "Your move, champ." And _oh, there it was._ Sam finally brought his head up to look at him in the eye, tears beginning to well up inside his brown puppy eyes. He knew that look all too well, had seen it hundreds of times before in the cage. It meant that another piece of Sam's soul had been crushed. It meant that he was _winning_.

"Fine," Sam finally answered shakily, looking towards the ground. "I'll… I'll come with."

"'Atta boy, Samuel." Lucifer clapped a hand on his shoulder, causing shivers to run up his spine. "Of course, I'm gonna need you to say _one_ little magic word."

Sam's head snapped back up and he shoved the hand off, much to Lucifer's amusement. "No... You... Y- you never said anything about that."

"Didn't I? My bad." Lucifer said, taking another step closer so that their faces were only inches apart. God, he was enjoying this _way_ too much. "You see, this meat suit that Crowley gifted me is actually pretty annoying. Something about how 'E _very molecule is warded with spellwork from t_ _he cage, blah blah blah._ ' It's a _real_ bummer. I haven't really felt like myself lately, if you haven't noticed," he explained.

"No… No, You... You seem to be doing just fine." He denied.

"I mean, sure, I'm strong," he said, a cocky grin forming on his lips. "...But I could be _so_ much stronger. And you know as well as I do that Dean, Cas, Mary, even Jack... They're gonna need some extra power to make it out of here alive, too."

"I won't do it. I- I can't. Not again…" The tears in his eyes were now spilling onto his face as he was taken over by sheer terror. This _had_ to be a nightmare-

"Sorry, Sam. You're not dreaming, and you've got to make a choice. Life or death. Your family or…" he turned his flashlight towards the vampires again. " _That_."

And then, Sam was angry once more. Because There _had_ to be some ulterior motive, _something. He's lying. It's what he does._

Sam looked Lucifer in the eye again, fury and resentment evident on fis face. "I _swear to God_ , if this is some type of trick, or if you end up hurting _any_ of them-"

"No tricks, Sammy. Just you and me," he said in a tone that would have been soothing in _any_ other situation.

Because after all, the devil doesn't _actually_ lie. No, not really.

Sam wiped his face and took a shaky breath. A few years ago, he would have chosen death over this. But _now_? Now, he couldn't believe he was _actually_ considering it. But he was considering life. Sweet, horrible, bitter _life_. He was choosing to _live_.

He shook his head and closed his eyes. "Fine. Just… Just do it," he whispered hopelessly.

Lucifer put a hand over his own ear, as if unable to properly hear him. "What was that, Sammy? I'm going to need you to do a little better than that."

" _Y_ _es_ , okay?!" he screamed once more, his voice bouncing off the cave walls one last time.

* * *

 _"He can't be dead, he can't be dead…_ " Jack paced back and forth the campgrounds with only one thought on his mind: Sam Winchester _couldn't_ be dead.

"Jack-"

"-Couldn't you bring him back _?_ " He cut, throwing Castiel's hand off of his shoulder. He then turned to Gabriel. " _Why didn't you bring him back?_ "

"I'm not strong enough," Gabriel answered flatly.

 _Did either of them even care?_ Jack thought to himself.

"Jack," Castiel said again. "If we could have… We would have. I'm so sorry."

He looked into his father's eyes, and then he saw it. The guilt. The defeat. Sam was gone, and there was nothing that any of them could do...

Then, out of nowhere, the bells rang.

Everyone watched in anticipation as Sam's body slowly walked through the gate.

"Sam…" Jack breathed happily. He _knew_ it. He _knew_ it couldn't be true.

Gabriel stood up and walked straight to Jack and Castiel's side, drawing his angel blade. "No, kid. That's not Sam."

Jack watched in confusion as Sam's eyes scanned the entire camp, then stopped at him.

"Hello, Son."

* * *

 **So uhh, yeah. That's all folks. Maybe I'll add to this?**


End file.
